Britain Remembers the Fallen of WWI

It’s been 100 years since the start of the first World War and over the last few weeks, there has been events up and down the country (and around the world) to mark the armistice.

Here at Euracom, we are honoured to have let apartments in London to a number of visitors who have come to London especially for the remembrance events.

What do you know about WWI? Let’s start with the war in numbers:

Britain’s entry into WWI was declared at 11pm on August 4th 1914

Globally, 65m fought, including 5m British soldiers

Soldiers had to be 18 to sign up and 19 to fight abroad, but…

…the youngest British soldier (Sidney Lewis) was 12 who lied about his age

Estimates put the number of troops killed at 8.5m, including 750,000 British, with…

…21m troops wounded, including 1.5m British soldiers

12m letters were delivered to the front every week

By the end of the war, 2bn letters and 114m parcels were delivered

Around 2m soldiers, sailors and airmen died from disease and malnutrition

13m civilians were killed

The cost of bullets fired in one 24h period in September 1918 was £4m

While these numbers may represent an abstract concept, WWI changed Britain and the rest of the world forever. Paying for the war came at a massive cost and we changed from the world’s largest overseas investor to one of its biggest debtors with interest payments forming around 40% of all government spending. Also, inflation more than doubled. In a perfect example of irony, repatriations from Germany in the form of free coal depressed local industry and precipitated the 1926 General Strike.

However, whatever the reasons for the war and whatever happened in the aftermath, this week we have been remembering the fallen.

The most popular remembrance exhibition is the poppies at the Tower of London. 888,246 ceramic poppies have filled the moat at the Tower to represent each British military fatality. The installation by ceramic artist Paul Cummins is called ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ and has welcomed millions of visitors from all over the world and although it ended on Armistice Day, you can still buy a poppy to help support the vital work of a number of service charities in the UK here.

We went to the Tower to see the poppies and here are a few images from the day:

Christmas in London

So, what are you up to this Christmas? There are so many events, festivities, shows, pantomimes, markets and fairs happening this Christmas in London it’s hard to know what to do first!

We could list hundreds of events but the best thing to do is to look at sites likeVisitLondon and Time Out for things to do in London (we promise you there’s something for literally everyone!) and of course if you are coming to London, you’ll need somewhere to stay!

Here at Euracom, we have a comprehensive choice of serviced apartments in Londonbut we urge you to book quickly! London is one of the busiest cities in the world over the holiday season and we are filling up fast!

Please call us on 020 8420 7666 or email info@euracom.co.uk to reserve your holiday apartment in London and make sure you look at our special offers, including two-bedroom apartments in Baker Street/Regent’s Park, available from December 16th. The apartment sleeps 2-5 people and is available from just £700/week!

Before we go, we thought we’d relay a fantastic testimonial from one of our oldest and most regular clients –

‘Yet again, you have exceeded our expectations. I come to London with colleagues at least five times a year on business and my company wouldn’t trust anyone else with our accommodation. Richard and Kelly know precisely what we need and deliver high quality apartments close to where we need to be every single time. If you’re coming to London, don’t bother with Google, just call Euracom.’